estabrook



(No Model.)

A. G. ESTABROOK.

DENTAL PLATE BRUSH.

Patented Feb. 2, 1886.

@"muw mm...

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALANSON U. ESTABROOK, OF FLORENCE, MASSALIILTSIDTTS, ASSlUNOR TO THE FLORENCE MANUFACTURING ((HllANY, O1" SAME PLACE.

DENTAL-PLATE BRUSH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 335,345, dated February 2. 1886.

Application filed June I3, 1885.

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, AIANSON (1. ESTABROOK, of Florence, (town of Northampton,) in the county of Hampshire and Slate of Massaclnr setts, have invented certain new and useful lnr provement in Denial-Plate Brushes; and 1 do hereby declare that the follow i ng specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished, and forming a part of the same, is a to clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

Various forms and kinds of brushes have been heretofore devised with more or less relerence to their use in cleansing false teeth detached from the month. So far as I know, all such brushes have embodied tufts of bristles or other suitable material arranged in masses, substantially as in an ordinary tooth-brush, although in some cases an isolated group or mass of tufts has been located at the tip of the handle,the brush at its head being of the usual tooth brush form.

A brush embodying the main feature of my invention has two or more masses of tufts of 2 bristles on the head of the brush,and these are separated by one or more clearing-spaces,these latter being of such width that the coincident walls of bristles in any two masses may be si multaneously used for simultaneously cleans- 0 ing either the two sides of a dental plate at and near its edge, or in cleansing both sides of such teeth as are mounted thereon. For obtaining specially desirable results, one of these masses of bristlesis considerably longer 5 than the other,and in its best form said longer mass is tapered or in the form of a blunt wedge, and, while this longer mass is preferably located near the outer end of the brushhead, it may, with fair results, be located at 0 the opposite or inner side of a clearing-space, so as to be at the inner end of the brush-head or between two other masses.

To more particularly describe myinvention I will refer to the accompanying drawings, in

5 which Figure 1 is a side view of a brush embodying my invention in what I deem its best form for general use. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of a brush embodying three masses of tufts and two clearing-spaces.

The brush-head a and handle I; in their best Serial No. HEW-4. (No model.)

form are inl egrnhand are preferably com posed of bone, nltluulgh other well-known and suit able materials may be employed. The form of the handle and head may be indefinitely varied. The main mass 0 of bristles correspond in the size of its tufts, and in their general arrangement,and in the form ofthe mass, with a corresponding portion of a toothbrush in any of its general forms,and said mass may either be ilatrfaeed, as shown at r, or convex laterally, as shown at c, Fig. 3. The bristles or equivalent material should be quite coarse and sti ff,cspeei:tlly those adjacent to the clearingspaces, because the sides of the bristles at those points are made to do active cleansing service, as well as their tips. The mass of tufts ll should always be composed of very coarse, tough, stiff material, and it is essentially separated from the mass 0 by the f rec clearing-space c. As shown in the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, the mass (2 is smaller than the mass c, and the former is at the outer end of the head; but it is to be understood that they may be reversed in position without departure from my invention, although in such a brush the relative arrangement shown is preferred.

This combination in a toothbrush or in a dental-plate brush of two compact masses of tufts of bristles,scparated bya clearing-space, is, I believe, a broadly novel feature, in the construction of brushes,aud enables the brush to be used in a novel manner. Itiswell-known that front teeth are thinner than double teeth, and it will be obvious that with this clearing space a little narrower thanthe average thickness of double teeth, and with the handle standing at right angles to the line of double teeth, and the latter snugly embraced between the coincident surfaces of the clearing-space, a lateral reciprocation of the brush will simul taneously cleanse both sides of each tootlnthe plate inside of said teeth close to their bases, and also the gum surface at the outside of the plate. \Vhen operating on the front teeth,the handle being held angularly or tangentially thereto, the clearing-space will be thereby practically reduced in width,so that both sides of the thin front teeth and the adjacent portions of the plate will also be siumltaneously and effectually cleansed. The mass (1 of bristles in its best form is longer than the main mass,be-

cause ofthegreaterfacility for cleansing in open tooth-spaces, whieh,as with many other points, would otherwise be practically inaccessible, and in its best form said mass is also tapered, so as to afford a blunt wedge-shaped face at; the tips of the bristles, so as to conveniently enable special securing to be done at cavities in the plate and at angular junctions of the plate and teeth.

Although two oi these masses of bristle tufts in one brush are generally ample for the purposes indicated, it is obvious that one or more additional masses may be employed, with either narrower or wider clearingspaees between thenuwithont departure from my inventionas. for instance, as illustrated in Fig. b,wherein the wedgeshaped mass dis located between two main masses, 0, one flat'faeed and the, other convex, as at c, and the three masses are separated by clearing-spaces (of different widths. 'lhis form of brush is especially adapted for dentists use.

I am aware, as hereinbefore stated, that toi'lth-lunshes have heretofore had isolated, masses of bristle tufts at the rear end of the l handle and that floor-scrubbing brushes have i had a main mass 01 bristle tufts in the head of the brush, and one or more rows of tufts l angnlarly set at the end of the brush-head, and projecting therefrom; but I know of no prior tooth brush or dental plate brush specially provided with a clearing -space, whereby two adjacent masses of tufts may be simultaneously employed for cleansing oppositely-located surfaces.

Having thus described lnyinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters latent 1. A dental-plate brush composed of masses of tufts of bristles separated by clearingspaces, substantially as described, whereby any two masses of bristles may cooperate in simultaneously cleansing two sides of a plate or the teeth thereon.

2. A dental-plate brush having masses of tul'ts of bristles separated by a clearing-space, one of said masses being composed of bristles longer than those in the remainder of the brush, substantially as described.

3. A dental-platebrush having main masses of bristle tufts and a tapered mass of longer t n fts, each mass being separated from the other by a clearing-space, substantially as described.

ALANSON C. ESTABROOK.

FRANK N. LAA n, J. Emma. 

